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Another one rescued from the back of the shed. One of the first short run kits I made - a High Planes 1:72 Beaufighter. Built well over 10 years ago when I was still using enamels (still brush painted). After cleaning up the dust and cobwebs (there was a spider living in one of the engine nacelles) she doesn't look too bad. I can't find the instructions so I can not remember what unit she belonged to, other than she is an early RAAF machine. Can't wait until I can get my hands on the new Airfix tooling! Thanks for looking.

Hello there fellow modellers, I have been posting on here for some time in awe of the models produced, and in great appreciation of the support that Britodeller members give to fellow modellers. With that in mind I've decided t post my latest offering which at this stage I'm calling a practice until I develop my skills further. I also have to say that I also have had the encouragement from the members of my local club to get to this stage and for them who also lurk on here you have seen this before but not quite finished. So without further ado I give you my Dallachy /Banff Strike wing Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter Mk.IF 1:32 Revell The Bristol Beaufighter (Or Type 156) was developed by The Bristol Aeroplane Company from their earlier Beaufort Torpedo Bomber following a suggestion from the Air ministry following delays to the Westland Whirlwind aircraft. The name Beaufighter being an amalgamation of the words Beaufort and Fighter. Unlike the Beaufort the Beaufighter was to prove to be an aircraft which would have a long career and provide service to the RAF throughout the war in many different theatres. Using the new Hercules engines instead of the Beaufort's Taurus engine would give the new "fighter" much better performance. Since the Beaufighter was to be a conversion of an existing design, development and acceptance was far quicker than that for a new design. The differences between the two aircraft were actually minor. The wings, control surfaces, landing gear and rear fuselage were identical. The Beauforts bomb bay was omitted with four 20mm cannon being mounted in this area. At only 335 mph the aircraft was slower than frontline fighters at the time but in times of need it was available. A favourable development at the same time was that the new Air Intercept radars were coming off the production line. With its cannons in the lower fuselage the Beaufighter had no problems mounting the new radar in its nose. Even fully loaded the aircraft was able to catch the German bombers of the time, and the Beaufighter Night Fighter was born. As the faster radar equipped Mosquito aircraft came on stream the Beaufighter was taken ;off the Nightfighter role and used very effectively in the anti-shipping, ground attack and long range interdiction roles. Using a combination of rocket and torpedo armed aircraft they were very effective in the anti-shipping role. The Beaufighter would serve in all theatres of the war. Production was even moved to Australia following successful use in the pacific. During WWII the aircraft was used by the British and American forces. Post war Portugal, Turkey and the Dominican Republic used the aircraft. In addition it was briefly used by Israel following their clandestine purchase in 1948. The last RAF variants were used as Target Tugs and finally retired in 1960. Overall 5564 were built in the UK by Bristol and Fairey; with 365 being built also in Australia. The Kit Using the wayback machine this tooling now dates back to 1974. The moulds seem to have held up very well. The kit arrives with nine sprues of grey plastic (its obvious they have been broken up to fit the new size box revell are using), and one clear sprue. There is no flash evident on the parts. As a kit of this age would suggest detail is sparse and the panel lines are raised. Construction shockingly enough does not start with the cockpit, but the engines. Two banks of cylinders are assembled (two parts to each bank)along with an inner hub. The hub is attached to the propeller in the next step. Both of these procedures being completed twice. Construction can then proceed to the cockpit! The cockpit tub is fairly simple. A one piece tub is backed with the pilots bulkhead with a representation of the entry doors on it. A seat is provided along with a control column. Rudder pedals are moulded into the tub. If needed a pilot figure is supplied for use. Next step is the construction of the seating area for the rear gunner. A floor part is attached to two sides and the front and rear bulkheads. A seat is provided as is another figure. All the control panels for both areas are provided as decals. Next step is construction of the four part tail wheel. Once this is done the tail wheel along with both cockpits are placed into the right fuselage. The fuselage halves can then be buttoned up. The next step is then the wings. The upper wings are two part whereas the lower ones are three parts. There is a centre section combining the under fuselage part with two outer wing panels. Once the wings are one the tail planes, rudder and cockpit transparencies are added. Clear parts for the navigation lights, and landing light are added, along with the grill for the oil cooler. Construction then moves on to the main landing gear. Two part wheels are added to the main double strut with the retraction struts added to the rear. There is no detail at all in the wheel wells. Gear doors are also added at this stage. Once the gear is on the modeller moves onto the engines. Cowlings are added along with the actual engines complete in the first step. The exhaust collector rings and exhaust parts can now be added. If the modeller is making the night fighter version then the various antenna are added. Canopy The canopy is clear but a little thick which shows the age of the kit a little. The rear blister could certainly do with a good polish. Decals Decals are provided for two aircraft. They are printed in Italy for Revell and up to the now usual standard. They are in register and colour density looks good. No.252 Sqn RAF, Abu Sueir, Egypt May 1941 No.406 Sqn RAF, Coltishall, England, August 1941 Conclusion It maybe an older kit but its the only game in town for 1.32 Beaufighter. Despite its age it should make up to be a good looking model. recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

Having been given inspiration by Noel with his excellent Spitfire VIII, here just for Australia Day a couple of foliage green RAAF machines. The first has been posted before, a LTD 1/48 CA-13 Boomerang .The markings are for an aircraft from No 4 Squadron RAAF based at Labuan, Borneo in 1945. The second was made back in 2005 from the 1/48 Tamiya Beaufighter TF-X kit, completed as a Beaufighter Mk 21 of 93 Squadron RAAF also at Labuan, Borneo in 1945 (markings sourced from Eagle Strike). Both brush painted with Tamiya Acrylics. Thanks for looking.

What am I getting up to? Okay, I realize you don't care, but a strange impulse compels to me want to write every now and then (not only am I a failed graduate student, I'm also a failed writer*), and also I have a bizarre urge to complete as many builds as possible each year. I reckon my fear of failure** will impel me to keep on building and babbling. But possibly not! I'm inconsistent and unreliable, that's part of my charm. Blah blah blah. I'm wrapping up work on the AZ Spitfire IX Joypack; I decided to do all three at once, because otherwise I would have only built three Spitfires this year, and it's actually worse than that, because one of them is a Seafire 47, so really only two. As that would have meant I built more Mustangs (two Commonwealth P-51Ds, one Mustang IV) and Meteors (an NF.13, an F.4, and two RAAF F.8s, plus a Meteor III ruined by a disastrous superglue/noseweight accident) than Spitfires this year, radical corrective action was required. It turned out to be a good idea, because my initial positive impressions aside, if I'd only built one, I'd be unlikely to return to build the other two without a lengthy refractory period. From simply stupid engineering choices (there's not really a good time or way to put in the exhaust stacks -- if I had to do it again I'd put a strip of plasticard on the inside of the housing for them to rest against and sand down the edges of the little flat piece of plastic all the exhausts come out of so I could add it later easily), to the continuing frustration of attempting to get the right sit with limited run kit landing gear (Airfix has hit upon a genius solution, with square pegs; you have to work VERY hard to put their gear on wrong), and just the constant stupidities that can derail any build -- I knocked over my only bottle of flat clear; the flat coat went cloudy on one model and one model only, though all were sprayed at the same time; I've dropped everything I've picked up: a near complete Spit, wetted decals, very small parts, a can of cola, glue, etc -- I think I'm ready for the projected Eduard 1/72 kit for 2015. I plan on buying at least ten of any double boxing they make, and I rarely buy more than two of any kit: I am dead freaking [stronger language available] serious about Spitfire IXs. They are the most beautiful anything ever to have existed, and the fact that they came into being expressly to kill the hated (by me, intensely) Focke-Wulf 190 just makes it all the sweeter. So here's one of the Spitfires earlier: This is an LF.IXe of 318 (Polish) Squadron in Italy in 1945. Not visible here is the hideous gap between spinner cone and backplate, which I did not mention earlier but which is arguably the kit's worst and most annoying flaw. Suggested workaround is to only build black-nosed Spitfires of 2TAF, so you can glue it all up before painting and sand at your leisure. Here's a group shot around 2 PM Sunday: Yes, my workbench is super messy. In the foreground is a Spitfire IXb using markings from the Print Scale "Presentation Spitfires" set, which was kindly sent to me last Christmas by Ed Russell, of I believe Red Roo. The decals are not as terrible as some of the stories about Print Scale might have lead me to believe, but I should not have flat coated them today, (I applied them this morning), rather letting micro-sol and -set work their dark magics on them overnight. Past Me often screws himself in service of creating a sadder but wiser future me. In any case, this is "ZD-B/Turf Club I" of 222 (Natal) Squadron, and the last Spitfire is now done up using Southern Expo decals as MH434 when she, by curious coincidence, was also ZD-B in 222 Squadron, a year later. I built a Fw190 likely shot down by MH434 earlier in the year, so that's my first dogfight double, as well. Edward. These are not the Beaufighter. You have lied. You are a liar. I am not a liar -- unless it's convenient and easier to do so -- and I'm getting to the Beaufighter. I'm going to build this boxing: https://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=122025A good old fashioned Beaufighter X. But I have a thing, I prefer to build aircraft that saw combat, or could potentially see combat (like RAFG), and the cool thimble-nosed decal option is for a postwar aircraft, as its underwing serials clearly indicated. Freightdog to the rescue! Their "Brits Abroad, Part II" sheet has decals for a thimlbe-nosed TF.X in 1949 during Operation FIREDOG in what was then Malaya. As the Malayan Emergency is another area of interest for me, this rings three bells: thimble-nose, aircraft on active service, and weird little 20th century war. FIREDOG is especially interesting to me, because it's basically what the RAF was doing instead of fighting it out with MiGs above Korea, and lucky for the RAF, too, given that the Meteor and the Vampire were its frontline fighters at the time. In any case, that's what I'll be building. The Spitfires are almost totally done -- I have to swear a lot and cram in their exhaust stacks tomorrow morning -- and then I can tidy up and start on the Beauf. The plastic has already been washed. God willing, I might manage to finish it before the new year, wouldn't that be something? I now leave you with a song whose title describes me at least thirty percent of the time; you may not like it so much as I do, but it does have Karen "Doctor Who" Gillan and Paul Rubens of Pee-Wee Herman fame in it, too. Karen Gillan does nothing for me, I have my own, far superior redhead. But I like the song. *Some might say frustrated writer, but frustration would imply I've not accepted that my destiny is to do none of the things I dreamed of in childhood. I'm not that naive. **Having sampled it at length, I don't much care for it.

Hi All! Tamiya's 1:48 Beaufighter Mk.X: Essentially an out of the box build but with Model Alliance decals. Made to represent NE429, a 489 (New Zealand) Squadron aircraft operating out of RAF Dallachy in 1944. As usual for a Tamiya kit, it was a dream to build with no filling required at all and minimal sanding. Paints were a mix of Xtracolor, Testors and Alcad II for the metally bits. The YAGI antenna was fabricated using aerial spares, provided by the kit, cut to shape and aligned with a guitar string. I hope you'z like it! I think it's my best build yet. Woof woof. ~M~

Good day, gentlemen. Let me present you my next model.

Hi, Here is my attempt to 'upgrade' the FROG Beaufighter 1, 6, 10 kit. I scratchbuilt a representative interior, gouged out a tailwheel bay and installed a Revell Flitzer nosegear, and gave the kit a pretty full rescribe. The mainwheel bays were walled to prevent see-through into the wing and the nacelles and oil coolers were increased in diameter with milliput. Aftermarket used included Aeroclub Hercules engines, cowlings and props, Falcon vacform canopies, a Yahu instrument panel (highly recommended!) and markings from one of the Xtradecal "Mediterranean Twins" sheets. Paints used were Xtracrylics throughout applied by brush. I'm happy with the results. Hope you like it too: regards, Martin

My latest model, the well-known Tamiya kit, with lots of mistakes, I had to change lots of things to make it correct, hope you like it! http://www.modellingnews.gr/el/%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%82-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%BA%CE%B5%CF%85%CE%AD%CF%82/bristol-beaufighter-mkic-tamiya-148 Bristol Beaufighter Mk.Ic, Tamiya 1/48

Aircraft being restored at Duxford. Photos are mine. Julien

Just seen this and I can't wait! Apart from the 1/72 Lightning bonanza that 2014 seems it will be (for me definitely), i'm glad that this Beaufughter/Spit Mk.IX set is on the way. Not very often that I find justification to shell out an arm and a leg on a new Hasegawa boxing. Wonder which side of 50 squid this will be? http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10262265 Mart

Dear colleagues I am considering having a set of custom made masks created to do a 455 Sqn Beaufighter from mid to late 1944. Thus far my research suggests the following: Upper wing roundel - 63 inch Type B Lower wing roundel - nil Fuselage roundel - 36 inch Type C1 Serials - 8 inch Can anyone confirm that this is correct? My key question is what size are the codes? I note that there are at least two styles and sizes and three possible positions on the fuselage during the mid - late 1944 period. Any assistance greatly appreciated. TIA Shane Lovell Canberra, Australia

Hello again all. Finished the big Mossie last year and have since built a few OOBs. I have finally settled on 1/48ths as my scale of choice. Built the Airfix Spit and 109 and the Tamiya Panther (weathering in progress!). The latest project is the Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter, with which I am trying my hand at some proper weathering,which I have spent many a happy hour reading up about online and watching some interesting Brummie YouTube footage. My main resource for the Beau has been our antipodean cousins version of this site, link here: http://www.kiwimodeller.com/index.php/forum/38-follow-as-i-build/23211-bristol-beaufighter-mk-vi-tamiya-1-48?limit=10&limitstart=0&start=10 I confess I do not want to go to the lengths he has,as I am not convinced it is necessary, but there are some useful tips there. I appreciate I should have taken some box shots, but I will post some pics tomorrow with my progress so far. Thanks in anticipation... Si M... PS: I notice the bronze exhaust collector issue has reared it's ugly head in many places. Suffice to say, mine are NOT bronze...

Finally! I´ve been expecting this to start so thanks Mish, Enzo Matrix and Col! Here´s the opener - a little text but some pictures! Here´s what I got for this adventure! The main prize; a genuine Frog Beaufort kit! The second one is another Frog Beau, this time a -fighter. I will try to finish these two kits with the help of another pair of kits: The Beau from down under; the prettiest kit of these four but must donate it´s engines to the Beaufort :-( Another Beaufort, from... where? Former USSR? I bought this as the canopies of the original Frog kit were shot; actually these aren´t much better. Can you see the flash, by the way? An organ doner but this time the loss is minimal... Can you smell the age of this piece of paper? Actually, I can! Here´s the other side. I won´t scan the Encore `Fort or the Aussie Beaufighter instructions as I don´t intend to build those kits :-) The Beaufighter instructions were larger than my scanner could take but here´s a hint at what they look like. Now it´s time to finally get some sleep, it´s GMT +3 hours here so good night. I even managed to wear out our 12 weeks old kitten while adding these pics so I could really catch some sleep tonight! Been some short nights thanks to her! Regards, V-P

I hesitated a lot before putting this one also in the GB, but with so many Beaufighters in it's one more. I don't know if this still can be called a kit, as the only parts that survived are in the picture. Contrary to the Whirlwind, this certainly has used a good share of tube glue. The green parts are spares from the old Revell Lancaster and will be used to make one of the conversions that I am wanting to do for decades. I'll try not to be too much obsessive, but I simply can't look at the plans and not try to modify the kit. New wheels and vac canopies will be needed and I must peruse my decal stash. Yesterday I separated the wing halfs, took off the engine nacelles and blanked the holes just to see if I could use them. Now I must tie me to the mast as the mermaids are singing a beatiful song and I just can't resist...

Hello, this is my first model presented here - Beaufighter built from 1:48 Tamiya kit with some addons (Eduard PE in cocpit, Quickboost exhausts) and modifications (e.g. vertical stabilizers). My aim was to reproduce heavily worn machine from 272 RAF Sqn. seen on this well known picture: Hope you enjoy!

Completed this one about 3 years ago - a present from my research group. Biggest model so far that I have attempted to brush paint with Tamiya acrylics. I had to do some light sanding which revealed the panel lines - not exactly realistic but I kind of liked the effect so I kept it rather than touching it up. Thanks for looking.

Having tried to do some research on this particular aircraft seemed to throw up more questions than answers to the point that I'm not sure if the codes T9068 are correct and weather it actually served in Malta ! Doing a seach on the aircraft throws up pictures of an aircraft with 'V' codes, but it isn't this one as it has the horizontal stabilisers, shorter carb intakes and cut down bubble observer canopy. If anyone can shed any light on what aircraft this actually is, that would be great. The decals are OOB. This is a beautiful kit, however does allow some additional detail to be added with ease. I've enhanced the cockpit and observer/gunner area using plastic rod and sheet and used the Falcon canopy set as the kit parts are quite thick. The inside of the canopy hatch were built up with plastic then elastic thread added to create the sun shade runners. The sun shade was made from pewter foil crinkled and painted matt white then tacked to the elastic. I wanted to capture the look of a sun bleached aircraft so the panels were post shaded with lighter tones of extracrylic mid stone and dark earth followed by a wash and dry pastel brushing add the dirt. I appreciate this isn't everyones cup of tea, but I like em dirty ! The build thread is HERE, although I didn't take many pictures unfortunately. Hope you like it... Thanks for looking, Neil